Hope
by Eirinn Croi
Summary: "Hopeful? What makes you think there is anything hopeful about your situation?"..."Because it's Christmas. There's always hope at Christmas."


_Written for **stars falling at midnight**'s "Disney Song Challenge"._

_A/N: Second stab at DracoLuna :) I liked them at much the first time round!_

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**Hope**

"Mr Ollivander, are you warm enough? Here have my blanket."

Luna pulled the threadbare blanket from her shoulders and wrapped it around the old man lying next to her. He jumped at her light touch but met her eyes and forced a smile. "Thank you, my dear."

Luna smiled and sat back against the wall and began to hum a sweet little song, a song her mother had sang to her as a child to chase away her nightmares.

She looked around the cellar that had become her home. Only a week had passed since she had been dragged from the Hogwarts Express by Death Eaters and locked up in this dark, dank and dreary dungeon room. A week that had passed like a year, each hour dragging slowly by.

Her only companion was Mr Ollivander, who didn't say much but smiled sweetly as Luna talked, like her voice was that of an angel that he would always cherish. She talked to keep that smile on his face, and more, to keep that spark in his eyes. She knew he was losing faith but she couldn't let that happen. Not when she knew that out there, somewhere, Harry, Ron and Hermione were fighting. And as long as they were, she would fight too.

Mr Ollivander had drifted to sleep, a comfort that rarely ever graced Luna these days. She was glad that the frail wandmaker could sleep, he needed it. She leaned across to fix his blankets more tightly around him again, then continued with her little tune.

The grinding screeching of metal on metal alerted Luna to her approaching visitor. Light steps on the stone stairs leading to her prison told her who it was.

When he opened the door, Luna beamed at him, the brightest smile she could muster. "Hi, Draco!"

He scowled at her, as he always did. She knew it was because he thought she was crazy to be so cheerful with her captor, but she forced her smiles nevertheless.

"Here's your dinner. The old man's too." He bent down several feet away and pushed the tray across the ground towards her. Two meagre bowls of soup and a loaf of stale bread. "Thank you, Draco!" Luna said, and he scowled again at the sincerity in her voice.

He turned to exit the room, he never stayed longer than it took to drop the food.

"Draco?" Luna spoke up as he reached the door. He froze.

"What?" he asked, his voice not as harsh as she expected.

"I've been trying to keep count, but I'm not quite sure...is it Christmas?"

Draco turned to look at her and she caught the barely disguised sympathy in his eyes. She smiled again, and after a second, his lips twitched, as if he wanted to smile too.

"Yes, it's Christmas Eve," he told her.

Luna nodded and smiled. "Good!" she said, her voice clear and cheerful.

Draco's smile dropped and he coughed out an irritated laugh. "Good? Lovegood, you're being held captive under the Dark Lord's orders and you think it's good?"

Luna shook her head. "Of course _that's_ not good, though not as bad as it sounds, I admit. It could be worse. No, what I meant was it's good that it's Christmas," she explained.

Draco shook his head, too. "You're mad!"

Luna smiled again. "No, just hopeful."

"Hopeful? What makes you think there is anything hopeful about your situation?"

"Because it's Christmas. There's always hope at Christmas."

Draco laughed this time, a cruel laugh that almost made her smile fade. "You're mad," he repeated.

Just then, a loud rumbling could be heard above them, like many feet trampling their way into the dining room above. Excited voices wafted down the stairs. Something was happening. Draco looked alarmed, then rushed out the door, slamming it shut behind him and throwing Luna into darkness once more.

Luna sat against the wall and listened to the shouting and madness from above. Something very serious was happening indeed. But what could it be?

Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour, then two. Luna was still listening intently to the voices above, though she could not make out what was going on at all.

Then, without notice, footsteps approached on the stone steps outside the cellar. Draco re-entered the room, his expression an odd mix of fear and relief.

"What happened?" Luna asked immediately.

"Are you finished your food?" Draco said in a dull voice, lifting the food tray though neither she nor Mr Ollivander had touched their food.

"Please tell me!" Luna begged, momentarily sounding as terrified as she truly was.

Draco turned to leave without another word, but as he reached the door, he stopped. He looked back at her, seeming to read the fear in her expression, the need to know. He sighed.

"It was him, the Dark Lord found him."

Luna gasped. No. This couldn't be true. Harry couldn't have been caught. It couldn't be over! Devastation hit her, wave after wave and suddenly, the dark cellar seemed all at once more terrible than ever before. It couldn't be over...

"He escaped..." Draco whispered.

Luna's head snapped up and she met his eyes. He nodded, just once.

Relief flooded away her fear and she smiled again. "Good."

Draco shook his head in disbelief. "You're mad..."

"No, just hopeful. There's always hope at Christmas..."


End file.
